A few days after finishing the government of Gustavo Petrothe control bodies took actions to prevent irregularities from occurring in the state contracting. On the one hand, the Comptroller tightened the monitoring of contracts, while the Attorney’s Office He ordered his officials to closely review the agreements that are signed until August 7.
From the Delegate Comptroller for Finances National and regional public procurement continues to be strictly monitored, as well as any type of high-caliber financial movement in recent days. This is taking into account that since last June 22, the restrictions due to the Guarantees Lawwhich were supposed to prevent hiring in the country given the circumstances due to elections to Congress and the Presidency.
“In addition to verifying the public agreements of the entities, we are also monitoring the financial and budgetary movements that are being made through contracting, trusts and funds, in these last four weeks. “Once we gather the information and analyze it, we will deliver this follow-up result in a few days, which will be in the next few days.”explained the delegate for Finance, Jenny Lindo Diaz.
President Petro in the council of ministers. Photo:CESAR CARRION. Presidency
That same delegate was the one who discovered that, for example, despite the entry into force of the contractual restrictions of the Guarantees Law, as of last March 368 direct contracts associated with events, advertising, concerts, refreshments, stages or logistics were identifiedfor $31,959 million, signed between January 31 and February 27 of this year by public entities. That money was invested, according to the control body, in activities for proselytizing purposes.
The investigation established, at the time, that movements with political purposes were more than common prior to the elections. The Comptroller’s Office even identified 17,841 direct contracts worth more than $1.68 billionsubscribed between October 1 of last year and January 30, 2026, also related to events, advertising, concerts, refreshments, stages or logistics. Now, the control body seeks to establish the purposes of the financial movements that were released once the period of the Guarantees Law ended.
President Petro. Photo:Néstor Gómez – El Tiempo
For his part, the deputy attorney general, Julián Fernándeztightened the controls of the Public Ministry on hirings that are made before August 7 when this government ends.
In a letter with five points, the Attorney General’s Office ordered that In the surveillance of the contracting processes, it is verified that the entities are complying with the rules of public procurement, that the contracts respond to needs previously included in their purchasing plans, that those who sign them have the legal competence to do so and, in the case of entities with a special regime, that respect your hiring manual.
Attorney’s Office Photo:Attorney’s Office
“It is reiterated that contractual preventive surveillance and disciplinary action are independent and that at no time does said surveillance constitute a prior or preliminary stage of the disciplinary process,” Fernández said in the memorandum sent to the delegates of the Attorney General’s Office.
In addition, it ordered that for all surveillance initiated between July 24 and August 7, no later than August 18, a report with the main findings, the value of the contract reviewed, the status of surveillance and possible disciplinary irregularities detected.
Juan Diego Torres and Carlos López – @JusticiaET
